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CVCY vs. COLB: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?

Investors with an interest in Banks - West stocks have likely encountered both Central Valley Community Bancorp (CVCY) and Columbia Banking (COLB). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Central Valley Community Bancorp and Columbia Banking are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. This means that both companies have witnessed positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that both of these stocks have an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

CVCY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.46, while COLB has a forward P/E of 15.59. We also note that CVCY has a PEG ratio of 1.56. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. COLB currently has a PEG ratio of 2.23.

Another notable valuation metric for CVCY is its P/B ratio of 1.26. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, COLB has a P/B of 1.41.

Based on these metrics and many more, CVCY holds a Value grade of B, while COLB has a Value grade of C.

Both CVCY and COLB are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that CVCY is the superior value option right now.

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